News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

I’ve been ordering a lot of chick lit recently as it’s a perennially popular section of our fiction collection.  Covering broken relationships and new motherhood – classic chick lit themes – these two new books do so with humour.  Which I think is very important if you’re looking for something light and enjoyable to read!

Both are expected to arrive at the library fairly soon.

Pear shaped.
This is the first novel by Stella Newman and it is about two very important things – romance and food.  The heroine is a chef, who meets a bloke and I think you can guess the rest – it doesn’t all go to plan!  The story has been described as well written, funny and unputdownable.  Good reviews too.

Just another manic mum-day.
This is the second novel for Mink Elliott (we have her other book too).  It’s actually a follow-up to her previous book, using the same characters - Roxy and her small family.  In this story Roxy and family have just moved to Sydney and are finding it hard to settle in and adjust to the new home.  Roxy decides to open a cafe for mums, for her friends and to help her to find the support network she needs – just to add to her stresses!  Of course, it does all work out in the end – this is chick lit! – but Roxy is an enjoyable character and relatable mum.

This week’s choices are both due in early 2012 (February and March respectively) and are written by young, female American writers.  Snow Child is the debut novel of Alaskan Eowyn Ivey whilst Arcadia is Lauren Groff’s third publication – we have her other books here and here.  Both these books have been well received and glowingly reviewed!

Snow child : a novel.
“Here’s a modern retelling of the Russian fairy tale about a girl, made from snow by a childless couple, who comes to life. Or perhaps not modern-the setting is 1920s Alaska-but that only proves the timelessness of the tale and of this lovely book. Unable to start a family, middle-aged Jack and Mabel have come to the wilderness to start over, leaving behind an easier life back east. Anxious that they won’t outlast one wretched winter, they distract themselves by building a snow girl and wrap her in a scarf. The snow girl and the scarf are gone the next morning, but Jack spies a real child in the woods. Soon Jack and Mabel have developed a tentative relationship with the free-spirited Faina, as she finally admits to being called. Is she indeed a “snow fairy,” a “wilderness pixie” magicked out of the cold? Or a wild child who knows better than anyone how to survive in the rugged north? Even as Faina embodies a natural order that cannot be tamed, the neighborly George and Esther show Jack and Mabel (and the rest of us) how important community is for survival. VERDICT A fluid, absorbing, beautifully executed debut novel; highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 9/21/11.]-Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.” (Library Journal)

Arcadia.
“Groff’s dark, lyrical examination of life on a commune follows Bit, aka Little Bit, aka Ridley Sorrel Stone, born in the late ’60s in a spot that will become Arcadia, a utopian community his parents help to form. Despite their idealistic goals, the family’s attempts at sustainability bring hunger, cold, illness, and injury. Bit’s vibrant mother retreats into herself each winter; caring for the community literally breaks his father’s back. The small, sensitive child whose purposeful lack of speech is sometimes mistaken for slowness finds comfort in Grimms’ fairy tales and is lost in the outside world once Arcadia’s increasingly entitled spiritual leader falls from grace and the community crumbles. Split between utopia and its aftermath, the book’s second half tracks the ways in which Bit, now an adult (he’s 50 when this all ends, in 2018), has been shaped by Arcadia; a career in photography was the perfect choice for a man who “watches life from a good distance.” Bit’s painful experiences as a husband, father, and son grow more harrowing as humanity becomes increasingly imperiled. The effective juxtaposition of past and future and Groff’s (Delicate Edible Birds) beautiful prose make this an unforgettable read. Agent: William Morris Endeavor. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved” (Publisher Weekly)

Elegy for Eddie. Maisie Dobbs, an ex-VAD nurse, runs a private detective agency in London with the assistance of Billy, a World War I veteran. This is the sixth book in a compelling, edgy series, set in the late 1920s and early 1930s, just as the Depression begins to bite. In Elegy for Eddie, Masie accepts a case investigating the brutal killing of a street peddler. It leads Masie and Billy on a twisting and convoluting trail through some of the meanest neighbourhoods in London and into the highest echelons of society and power. There is nothing shallow and predictable about these detectives. Jacqueline Winspear gives us characters of complexity and depth, and she portrays with great skill the vanished world of pre-war London with all its complicated layers of class and customs which have long since disappeared.

American dervish. Hayat Shah is a 10-year-old son of a Pakistani family living in Milwaukee in the 1980s. The family is already rivven with underlying tension as the novel begins: his determinedly secular neurologist father is best friends with a Jewish colleague, Nathan, and having an affair with another woman, much to the resentment of his mother. Into this volatile environment comes his mother’s best friend, recently divorced by her husband for her “fast mouth”. It is she who introduces Hayat to the beauty of the Qu’ran. But when she falls in love with the Jewish Nathan, Hayat, now a teenaged Muslim fundamentalist commits a terrible act of betrayal that he deeply regrets as he moves into adulthood. This fine debut novel is essentially a coming-of-age family drama, with all its conflicts, and generational differences, with the added nuance of growing up Muslim in the United States.

Hi everyone, Deborah and I are the fiction selectors for Wellington City Libraries and we spend a lot of time reading about, and choosing, lovely new fiction for our customers.

This is a new feature we hope to update every week – just a couple of books that we’ve ordered during the week that have really caught our eye.  They won’t be ’shelf ready’ as one says, but they will be due to published in the next six months and on the catalogue, available to reserve.  We’re going to write a couple of sentences about what the books are about and why we think it’s interesting.

You’ll have to be the judge of whether it’s a good read or not – we’d love to hear your comments!

So onto this week’s picks.

Pure.
A postapocalyptic horror novel, already considered to be one of the best of this genre. Set after the ‘detonations’, the protagonist is a young teenage girl who is a survivor – disfigured and living separate from the ‘pures’ (those left unscathed). Sounds a bit like John Wyndham to me and tipped to be the next Hunger Games.

Rook.
This book is described as a high-action supernatural thriller. Not normally my kind of thing, but opening premise got me hooked – waking up in park surrounded by dead men all wearing latex gloves! It sounds a bit like (the TV series) Spooks to me, but with a humorous sci-fi twist, and I love that show – can’t wait.

Escape the winter doldrums with a sneak peek at an eclectic selection of new books.  (These books are not on the shelf yet they are available for you to reserve).

Photobooth dogs.
“This one-of-a-kind collection celebrates the age-old bond between dogs and their people. Featuring happy and clearly beloved pets in more than 100 portraits taken in photobooths over the last 80 years, these images are a testament to the devotion people have felt and will always feel for their dogs.” (Syndetics summary)

Destiny disrupted : a history of the world through Islamic eyes / Tamim Ansary.
“A sweeping narrative history by the acclaimed author of “West of Kabul, East of New York” illuminates how Muslims have seen the history of the world–and what western world history leaves out.” (Syndetics summary)

New gypsies.
“Photographer Iain McKell offers an extraordinary – and breathtakingly beautiful – glimpse into the lives of a real and raw group of present-day nomads whose culture is built around ideals of freedom, nature, and simplicity.” (Syndetics summary)

A cook’s year in a Welsh farmhouse / Elisabeth Luard ; photography by Clare Richardson.
In an old farmhouse on the slopes of a mountain lying between Tregaron and Aberystwyth, Elisabeth Luard brings the produce of the land into her kitchen and turns it into delicious food. This book is her response to the changes she sees in her garden and the surrounding countryside throughout the seasons, with distinctive recipes at the end of each month’s chapter. It is the story of a year spent planting and picking in the garden, roaming the countryside with her grandchildren and introducing them to the pleasures of rural living.  With full colour photography by Clare Richardson that perfectly captures the sense of life in the Welsh countryside, this is a unique and beautiful book. (globalbooksinprint summary)

How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One
“”New York Times” columnist Fish presents an entertaining, erudite celebration of language and rhetoric drawing on a wide range of examples from Hobbes to Scalia to Elmore Leonard.” (Syndetics summary)

All My Friends Are Dead
“If you’re a dinosaur, all of your friends are dead. If you’re a pirate, all of your friends have scurvy. If you’re a tree, all of your friends are end tables. Each page of this laugh-out-loud illustrated humor book showcases the downside of being everything from a clown to a cassette tape to a zombie. Cute and dark all at once, this hilarious children’s book for adults teaches valuable lessons about life while exploring each cartoon character’s unique grievance and wide-eyed predicament. From the sock whose only friends have gone missing to the houseplant whose friends are being slowly killed by irresponsible plant owners (like you), All My Friends Are Dead presents a delightful primer for laughing at the inevitable.” (Syndetics summary)

Yes – vegan ebooks!
Did you know that some of the most popular, and some of my favourite, vegan cookbooks are available from our Overdrive eLibrary?   And most are sitting on the shelf, so to speak, right now so you can beat that reserves queue.   If the book you want is on loan you can also reserve ebooks, just like you would ‘normal books’ -  in fact its even better as ebooks are free to reserve!

Here’s a selection of titles -
How it all vegan! : irresistible recipes for an animal-free diet / Tanya Barnard & Sarah Kramer.
“This 10th-anniversary edition of the book that introduced the tenets of vegan living and eating includes a new color-photo section and new recipes as well as a new Introduction by co-author Kramer.” (Syndetics summary)

Veganomicon : the ultimate vegan cookbook / Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero.
“It’s easy to live vegan 24/7 with this collection of 250 recipes, menus, and color photos for dishes that taste even better than their non-vegan counterparts. The cookbook offers innovative recipes for all occasions, convenience, easy-to-find ingredients, and gluten-free and tofu-free options.” (Syndetics summary)

Appetite for reduction : 125 fast & filling low-fat vegan recipes / Isa Chandra Moskowitz ; with Matthew Ruscigno.
“Bestselling vegan chef Moskowitz is known for making groundbreaking strides in vegan cooking. “Appetite for Reduction” offers 125 delicious, big-portion recipes that are fewer than 400 calories per serving, low in fat and sugar, and high in fiber.” (Syndetics summary)

For newbies to Overdrive this is a link to help you get started and provide you with all the relevant ebook information.  Happy downloading!

This month we highlight some new picture books that took the children’s buyers’ fancy, including text from the reviews that grabbed them. It’s an ecclectic selection, plenty to entertain both children and adults!

Ape by Martin Jenkins. School Library Journal says, “Jenkins avoids anthropomorphizing in this simple introduction to four rare apes-chimps, bonobos, orangutans, and gorillas-and provides basic facts about their daily eating and sleeping habits. The highly textured and naturalistic pencil and oil illustrations deftly blend subtle colour and back-and-white scenes and are made for group sharing…The book concludes by comparing humans to the four others and explains the negative impact that we’ve had on their survival.” (Julie) This title is on order, but you can reserve it now ($2 on an adult’s card, free on a child’s card).

Big Animal Mix-Up by Gareth Edwards. Little Bear’s dad tries to teach him about animals, but the problem is they are a little mixed up. E.g. “Does a cat have feathers? Does it fly in the air? No that’s a…” As you lift the flap to reveal the answer you’ll have children shouting out the correct names for the animals that are mixed up. (Steph)

A Place to Call Home by Alexis Deacon. Illustrated by Viviane Schwarz of There are cats in this book fame. This is the story of seven very cute little critters that live in a hole. When they grow too big for the hole they have to find a new home and the adventure begins… Much of the book is in simplified comic format so probably great for one to one reading or early independent readers. (Julie)

Me… Jane by Patrick McDonnell. In this excellently reviewed picture book, Patrick McDonnell tells the story of a young Jane Goodall and her childhood toy chimpanzee Jubilee. Cute Jane (a very buttoned up child) observes everyday animal miracles in her English country home and dreams of a life living with and helping animals until one day she finds that her dream has come true. Additional material includes a short biography, photos and a letter and drawing from Jane herself. (Steph)

Press Here by Herve Tullet. This is a great interactive book, which has a lovely simplicity about it that Kirkus explains here: “One lone, yellow dot sits in the center of a blank, white page. Underneath is the inviting command (affirming the reader’s already intrinsic urge): ‘Press here.’ Turn the page; now there are two yellow dots! Press again. Now, three! What happens if you tap them? Or tilt the book on its side? Gleefully, the dots scatter like marbles.” (Steph) This title is on order, but it can be reserved.

You Are What You Eat by Serge Bloch. School Library Journal says, “Before his appetite was whetted by the taste of a tofu dog, the picky eater in this picture book subsisted on meals of macaroni. The boy narrates his gradual transformation in a humorous story that uses 31 idioms related to food. ‘Use your noodle!’ his mom says, ‘People need three square meals a day.’ His dad, the couch potato, warns him his goose will be cooked if he lives on macaroni, and his sister, who eats like a horse, says things to him that he needs to take with a grain of salt… By the end of the book, feelings of frustration are replaced with feelings of pride. Mom is pleased as punch that her son has realized that variety is the spice of life.” On order: reserve it now!

No Bears by Meg Mckinlay. From Global Books: “Ruby is in charge of this book. And she’ll tell you something right now. There are NO BEARS in it. Not even one. Ruby wants to tell you a story. A story with absolutely no bears. You don’t need bears for a book. You need pretty things like fairies and princesses and castles. And maybe funny things and exciting things – but definitely no bears.” (Julie) This title is on order, but you can reserve it now.

Yoko’s Show and Tell by Rosemary Wells. A new treat from Rosemary Wells of Max and Ruby fame. Yoko is excited when she gets a precious kimono wrapped doll from her Japanese grandparents for Girls Day. Yoko longs to take Miki to school for show and tell but her mother says NO in her big no voice. Yoko decides to take Miki to school anyway but something disastrous happens on the way… This lovely reassuring story has gorgeous illustrations using Japanese style cut-paper designs. (Steph)

Some great new sewing books have arrived recently and I thought I’d share my picks with you.  Now these are for women’s clothing, just to let you know, but I’ll do a post on children’s clothes later!

First up there’s a couple of books by Built By Wendy designer Wendy Mullins.  Built by Wendy is a New York based clothing line designed by Mullins.  She’s turned her hand to writing how-to books for sewers and we hold three in this series.
Built by Wendy dresses : the Sew U guide to making a girl’s best frock / Wendy Mullin, with Eviana Hartman ; illustrations by Beci Orpin ; additional illustrations by Dana Vaccarelli.
I think this book is fantastic!  I can sew, but not well, and I found it easy to follow and understand.  All patterns are provided and the instructions and variations are clearly explained.  Its written in a chatty, informal way which helps too.  Mullins also makes sure that any problems you may encounter are covered, which is extremely useful.
Sew U : the Built by Wendy guide to making your own wardrobe / Wendy Mullin with Eviana Hartman ; illustrations by Beci Orpin ; additional illustrations by Agnieszka Gasparka.
This is an earlier book in the series and it covers skirts, shirts and pants.  It has basic patterns for each, simple instructions and how to alter each for different sizes and other variations.  Similarly, its full of helpful tips and tricks.  The third book Built By Wendy: Coats and Jackets is on order at the moment – reserve it now!
Little green dresses : 50 original patterns for repurposed dresses, tops, skirts, and more / Tina Sparkles ; photography by Erica Beckman.
This book is good for fans of secondhand shopping and those who want to be more eco-conscious with their fashion choices.  It covers mainly patterndrafting and how to alter secondhand purchases.  It also looks at finding good uses for vintage fabrics, buttons and other bits and pieces you may accumulate along the way.  Definitely worth a look!
In a similar vein is ReSew (also a new order – reserve here) which looks at repurposing secondhand finds.
Twinkle sews : 25 handmade fashions from the runway to your wardrobe / Wenlan Chia.
Any knitting fan will know about Wenlan Chia and her innovative designs.  Chia is also a designer, overseeing an entire Twinkle range.  What I like about this book are the great designs – these are not basics, these are clothes I’d actually like to wear!  This book’s not for beginners though, you’ll have to know what you’re doing.  But the instructions are clearly written and easy to understand.  Unfortunately, assembling the patterns can be problematic, but it’s worth persevering.

We’ve been fascinated with Scandinavian crime novels, particularly Henning Mankel’s Inspector Wallander and Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy. But mayhem and murder occurs everywhere, even in the utopia of a Peoples’ Republic. So if you’ve done the Scandinavians and you’re looking for a new police procedural series set in a completely different cultural and political environment, try these authors.

Colin Cotterill – Dr Siri Paiboun
“The Coroner’s Lunch” is the first in a series set in the newly communist Laos. It is 1976, and with Pathet Lao government in control of things in Laos, life ought to be getting much better for everyone.  Except that most of the people you need have fled across the Mekong to Thailand, including the country’s only coroner. When the wife of a high-ranking official suddenly dies, the authorities have only one person they can turn to: Dr Siri Paiboun, a recently retired 72-year-old surgeon and Pathet Lao veteran.

Thus begins Dr Siri’s late career as the coroner of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Armed only with an old French-language textbook on pathology, and assisted by the efficient and able Nurse Dtui, and Gueng, a willing but mildly Down’s syndrome assistant, Dr Siri begins his first autopsy. Of course, Dr Siri’s boss, Judge Huang, with his band-new Soviet diploma, is not really interested in the inconvenient truths Dr Siri and his team uncover – and things get even trickier as new bodies turn up. Still, Dr Siri doesn’t give up, and with his new colleague in the local police, the loyal and incorruptable Lieutenant Phosy, and the occasional help of his best friend Civilai, a member of the ruling Politburo, he carries on

Dr Siri is an adorable character– cynical, wise, humorous and humane and we all cheer for him and his eclectic team as they battle against limited resources, party bureaucracy, and Siri’s disturbing spiritual encounters to solve their cases. As you read your way through the series, there will be plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, but as the novels progress, we increasingly see this socialist paradise for what it really is – ruthless, corrupt, and inept. In the latest title, “”Love songs from a shallow grave”, Dr Siri is imprisoned during an official visit to Kampuchea (Cambodia) by the murderous Kmer Rouge regime. I could hardly bear to read it to the end. But have no fear! – Dr Siri apparently survives this experience, as Colin Cotterill’s next installment in the Dr Siri series is on its way to publication.

James Church – Inspector O
“A corpse in the Koryo” introduces Inspector O, a police officer in based in Pyongyang, the capital city of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. His sparse little modern flat is an oasis of calm, even if he knows that it is regularly searched. But the workplace he describes is an altogether more dangerous place, with constant feuding between the various groupings of security agencies, the shifting centres of power and the frequent betrayals by colleagues, with dreadful consequences for the betrayed.

He copes in this volatile environment by keeping a low profile and doing his work as efficiency and with as much humanity as he can. He has a very small measure of protection through his grandfather having been a revolutionary hero. But even for the watchful O there is no avoiding of trouble when he obeys a simple order and heads out at dawn with instructions to photograph a specific car passing at a particular point on the empty highway leading into Pyongyang. It seemed a straightforward task, but like so much in North Korea, nothing is what it seems, and he finds himself dangerously caught up in a tussle between two state intelligence units, who will go to any lengths to conceal past crimes of state-sponsored kidnapping and murder.

Inspector O is an enigmatic fellow and we only get to know him better by reading subsequent titles in the series. What makes him an attractive protagonist is that in the midst of this brutal environment, he retains his humanity and a measure of assertiveness, along with a wry appreciation of absurdities of what passes for normality in North Korea. But this is grimmer stuff than the Dr Siri series – there is little to laugh about in North Korea, and the sense of ever-present threat of imminent arrest, labour camps and death affects everyone, even in their most ordinary day-to-day living. There are 4 books in the series so far, and the latest, ““The man with the Baltic stare”, published last year, anticipates the possibility of fundamental change in the Korean Peninsula.

Qui Xiaolong – Detective Inspector Chen
In “The death of a Red Heroine” we meet Detective Inspector Chen Cao, newly promoted to head the Special Case Squad of Shanghai Police Bureau. He’s a faithful Party cadre and a conscientious police officer as well and a poet and a lover of fine food. But while he is a loyal Party man, he is troubled by the rapid changes in societal values and the relentless, heartless commercialism taking hold in the People’s Republic of China.

This first title in what has become a very strong series is set in the Shanghai of 1990, not long after Tiananmen Square. The body of a young woman is found in a city canal. She’s not just any young woman, though. She is National Model Worker Guan Hongying, and she’s been murdered. Inspector Chen and his faithful comrade, Detective Yu, begin their investigation, overseen by Commissar Zhang, an old-guard Party bureaucrat. There’s more to this case than meets the eye, of course, and Chen and yYu soon begin to feel pressure from Commissar Zhang not be too thorough in solving the case.

I’ve only just started on Inspector Chen myself, and I’m hooked already. He’s an intelligent, honest, hard-working policemen, who in the end realises that in order to reach the truth he must put aside his concerns for his career and standing in the Party. Despite these amirable qualities, I’m not warming to him in the way I did with Dr Siri and Inspector O. Still, it’s early days, and there’s so much more to this series than just solving crime. We have here a wonderful portrait of China: its landscape, its history, its politics, its literature, its beliefs and cultural practices, and the changes which will make China the powerhouse it has, in the 20 years since, become. The latest title in the series, “The Mao Case”, explores the Cultural Revolution and the legacies of that terrible time which still resonate in modern Shanghai. I’m looking forward to reading this.

Just as a footnote: Chinese surnames always precede firstnames, so you should find the Inspector Chen books under “Q” in the library. Just check, however, that there aren’t some under ”X”, just in case they’ve been shelved in the wrong place.

Who hasn’t been watching some version of Masterchef over the last year?!  I just wanted to let the fans know about some of the Masterchef cookbooks we have in our collection.

Mexican food made simple / Thomasina Miers ; photography by Tara Fisher.
Masterchef actually began on British TV  in the nineties and many contestants have gone on to work in the food industry.  One former winner is Thomasina Miers, who became a chef, opened a restaurant and wrote this cookbook – and if you like Mexican food you’ll really enjoy this book!  While you may have to hunt about to find some of the ingredients, the wonderful recipes and flavours make it worth the effort.  It also explains all the ins and outs of Mexican food and cooking so you’ll learn how to put an authentic Mexican meal together.

Comfort food / [Greg Mehigan] ; food photography by Dean Cambray.
My favourite Masterchef TV show is the Australian version.  This book is from one of their judges, Gary Mehigan – one of Australia’s top chefs and restaurateurs.  In this book he covers all his favourite home-cooking recipes, but with fancy, chefy twists.  There’s wonderful photography too!
We also have the first Australian Masterchef winner Julie Goodwin’s book.  (Adam, the second series winner, is expected to publish a book in May – I’m keeping my eye out for it).

MasterChef New Zealand : the cookbook : volume one / FremantleMedia.
And of course, we have the book from the New Zealand Masterchef which screened last year.  All the contestants, and the judges, have contributed recipes and so far this book’s been quite popular.

I have to admit though, that my favourite competitive cooking show is Top Chef.  So for all those other Top Chef fans out there – you haven’t missed out!  The library has this show covered too!